There are few details of the early roots of hunting around Thurlow. The area was probably part of the King's Forest and subject to the Forest Laws first introduced by Canute and greatly extended by the Norman kings from William I onwards. One of the earliest references to hunting was in the reign of Edward III (1327­1377), but it was James I who is generally credited with founding what became the Thurlow Hunt, while his grandson Charles II used to hunt regularly on his visits to Newmarket, visiting Little Thurlow Hall to play bowls on the lawn that is still there today.

In those days the quarry tended to be the hare, the hart, buck or fox, and it was not until the eighteenth century, when much of the old forest had been cleared, that the fox became the most popular. Different types of Hounds were developed for hunting the hare and the fox, leading to the establishment of the Foxhound Kennel Stud Book in 1866, which is now recognised throughout Europe as one of the most detailed and correct records of any Stud Book of its kind.

Boxing Day Meet, 1970's